A variety of beverage brewing apparatus have been developed for use in infusing a beverage brewing substance with water to produce a beverage. Examples of beverage brewing substance include coffee, tea, herbs, botanicals, as well as variety of other substances. Traditionally, brewing has been accomplished by dispensing heated water over the beverage brewing substance to infuse the substance retained in a substance holding filter or basket and then draining the brewed beverage from the substance.
A variety of packaged brewing substances have been available for use in an apparatus which infuses the packaged brewing substance. The brewing substance package is often referred to as a “pod” or sachet. A pod brewing apparatus is used to brew using a prepackaged pod often include a brewing chamber which retains the pod. The brewing chamber communicates with a water delivery system which delivers heated water to the chamber for infusing the substance retained in the pod. An exit or drain communicates with the chamber to allow beverage to drain from the chamber.
A variety of manually loaded and cleared pod brewers have been developed. Such brewers include a drawer, holder, or other apparatus which forms part of the brewing chamber. In using one of the pod brewing apparatus, a user places a pod in the drawer. The drawer is engaged with the brewer to close the brewing chamber. A brew cycle is activated whereupon heated water is dispensed into the closed chamber for brewing.
On of the problems that may arise with such a system is that the previous user may not remove their pod from the brewing apparatus. As a result, the pod may be a nuisance to remove, may transfer flavors to the drawer, or if left unattended for a significant period of time, may dry out or otherwise become undesirable. This problem is exacerbated in settings in which the pod brewer is used by a group of people such as in an office coffee dispensing setting.
As such, it would desirable to include a pod brewing apparatus which includes a mechanism for removing the pod from the chamber at the conclusion of a brewing cycle. It would also be desirable to provide a simplified pod brewer which can automatically close the chamber during or in preparation for a brewing cycle and then remove the pod from the chamber at the conclusion of the brewing cycle. It would also be desirable to provide a bin or other container to allow for accumulation of multiple spent pods.
While this disclosure has been described as having an exemplary embodiment, this application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations using its general principles. It is envisioned that those skilled in the art may devise various modifications and equivalents without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as recited in the following claims. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within the known or customary practice within the art to which it pertains.